Marketing ProblemPremium beer brand, Heineken has had a long association with international rugby, so signing a global sponsorship deal with Rugby World Cup 2011 presented a brilliant opportunity. But with so many sponsors on board this major world event, the challenge was how best to leverage the sponsorship here in Australia. We needed an idea that would stand out against the world cup clutter and provide a unique, immersive brand experience.

Target AudienceYoung men over 30, who are on the road to adulthood. They are keen to progress, acquire, accomplish - to prove themselves in all aspects of their lives. Still energetic and restless, they reject appearing or feeling limited in their horizons. They want to signal that they know how to navigate the world with all its opportunities and challenges.

ObjectiveOur task was to bring to life Heineken’s sponsorship of Rugby World Cup 2011 in the digital environment. We needed to make Heineken an intrinsic part of the Rugby World Cup experience, by exciting and engaging fans of both Heineken and of rugby. Ultimately, the objective was to drive visits to Heineken venues to maximise product sales.

Solution Heineken fans and rugby fans alike have all dreamt of kicking the winning goal for their country. So we developed an iPhone application that allows you to be part of the on-field action and kick real penalty goals and conversions, live, as they happen in the Rugby World Cup games. You take the same kick, from the same spot, in the same conditions as the players. When it’s not game time, users can hone their skills and climb the leaderboard in the Training Challenge.

To tap into the friendly rivalry that’s such a big part of being a rugby fan, people can not only kick for their country, they can play against their friends on Facebook too. In addition to the game modes, the Heineken Rugby Clubhouse application also keeps users up to date with all the latest tournament info and helps fans track down their nearest Heineken Clubhouse venue for the ultimate Rugby World Cup 2011 viewing experience.

How we did it* iPhone users can receive Push Notifications for Game Reminders, Live Kicks, and if their selected country is knocked out be notified. Over 450,000 Notifications have been sent out over 6 weeks.* Users can link their facebook account and see friend leaderboards.* Live Kicks are retrieved real time during the Rugby World Cup from Foxsports and a push notification is sent for users who have subscribed to receive them for the country getting a kick. Users can also see a list of available live kicks in the Live Kick menu.* Leaderboards are generated for Country Live Kick, Personal Live Kick, Friends Live Kick, Personal Training Mode, and Friend Training Mode. The Country Live Kick, Personal Live Kick and Personal Training mode are shown on the Foxsports Rugby World cup page (iPhone and Foxsports use the same API). Almost 200,000 leaderboards have been created.* Games are archived and put into the Instant Replay section after 24hrs where users are able to replay kicks taken in the game.

RESULTS:So far we’ve achieved:

Downloads- 49,145 downloads - 312 ratings in the App Store with a 4.5/5 average star rating - A ranking of 2nd in the Top Free Sports Applications

- Over 230,000 Live Kicks have been taken- 9.1 million kicks have been taken in the training challenge - Over 2 million replay kicks have been taken - Over 500,000 games have been played- 27% of users choose to play again immediately - On average, each user has trained 9 times